Zarvan
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DEFENSE NEWS
China Again Tries To Pierce Gulf Defense Market
The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., has sold Cai Hong UAVs to “20 military users from more than 10 foreign countries,” Shi said.
"We believe most of our users would use the drones to patrol borders, reconnoiter targets and hit terrorists or insurgents, who usually own small anti-aircraft weapons capable of striking planes flying about 3,000 meters above the ground. Therefore the 5,000-meter altitude is high enough to ensure the safety of our drones," Shi said.
Michelson said that it was only a matter of time that a manufacturing giant like China began exporting its own line of UAVs. However, from observations of the design, they bear a striking resemblance to existing UAVs that have been in service and widely exported for decades. “General Atomics' Predator series UAVs and IAI [Israel Aerospace Industries] ‘Pioneer-like’ designs seem to have been adopted for the Cai Hong drone family.”
Michelson took exception to the article’s boast that the CH UAVs are "among the most lethal drones on the planet.” Further stating that while altitude enhances survivability, “these largely nonstealth, slow fliers retain the vulnerabilities of 1980-90s drones,” he said.
“Without looking at what is contained ‘under the hood’, one cannot be sure how lethal this class of UAVs really is,” Michelson said. “The electronics technology to have effective electronics countermeasures is not beyond China by any means, but one wonders why it would be packaged in lookalikes from the 1990s.”
http://www.defensenews.com/story/de...8/report-chinese-combat-uavs-demand/83646008/
